On 14 July 1865 Edward Whymper reached the summit of the Matterhorn first, from the Swiss side. Three days later Jean-Antoine Carrel and Amé Gorret got there from the Italian one; both were born at Crétaz, a hamlet of this comune. Valtournenche has been the village of the guides ever since, and their association keeps its museum at Breuil-Cervinia.
The territory of its 2,147 residents rises from the valley floor to the 4,478 metres of the Matterhorn and borders Zermatt to the north. At Plateau Rosa, 3,488 metres up, stands the highest weather station in Italy. The mountain here is also a water industry: the Maën and Cignana power stations came on line in 1928, and the dam drowned the village of Tsignanaz, whose chapel was rebuilt higher up at the request of its people.
chiesa di Maria Regina della Valle d'Aosta · chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate · Gouffre des Busserailles and 1 more
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Next up: Saint Anthony the Abbot, patron of the town of Matterhorn guides, Sunday 17 January
Nearest airport: Torino Caselle, 76 km away
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📅 Every year, on 17 January
Valtournenche celebrates Saint Anthony the Abbot on 17 January; its 15th-century church stands in the town that gave birth to legendary Matterhorn mountain guides such as Jean-Antoine Carrel.
chiesa di Maria Regina della Valle d'Aosta The parish church of Breuil-Cervinia, built in 1955, with two wooden reliefs from the Beato Angelico school. 
chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate A parish church of 1420, with a free-standing eighteenth-century tower and its present look from 1854. 
Gouffre des Busserailles The Marmore torrent plunges in at 1,742 metres: 104 metres of gorge, signed by the Maquignaz brothers. 
Ecomuseo del Vertice Industrial archaeology at altitude: winches, trolleys and the Tracciolino of the Marmore penstocks. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Valtournenche, but an easy day trip away.
